Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Morning Coffee 89

• Akira in HD from XBL Video Marketplace? Coolness.
• Omar Shahine has the WL Hotmail + Outlook scoop. Download it here. I've used this product off and on over the past few years. Typically, I would use it, love it, but then never get around to reinstalling it after a repave since it was subscription-only product. 
• Microsoft releases eScrum project management tool. I've seen this internally but haven't used it yet. However, I have no doubt that the cool kids will deem it "not hot" in favor of Mingle. (via Larkware)
• Ted Neward writes at length about relational databases, object databases and OR mapping. Ted may be Switzerland when it comes to platform, but he has no problem taking sides and mixing it up when it comes to data & object persistence. He makes some interesting points that mostly boil down to "different tools for different jobs". Also, has the dual schema problem entered the general vernacular, or just Ted's?
• Nick Malik survives his trip to Nashville and has some thoughts on Ruby, Microsoft and alpha geeks. His point about the alpha geek track record (he sites Powerbuilder, Delphi and EJB) is spot on. This is something I've been thinking about since ETech last year. How good are alpha geeks at trendspotting? For every technology they adopt that makes the mainstream, how many don't? I'm guessing quite a few more than the three Nick mentions.
• Speaking of alpha geeks, this whole ALT.NET silliness reminds me of the famous Groucho Marx quote: "I don't want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member." Though maybe I'm just bitter because "Working at MS" has been deemed "not hot". :)